Montco woman to face vehicular homicide, DUI charges

By Margaret GibbonsStaff writer

Friday

Aug 30, 2013 at 12:01 AMAug 30, 2013 at 5:45 AM

A Main Line woman is accused of being under the influence of champagne and an anti-anxiety drug when the car she was driving with her 2-year-old son inside was involved in a fatal two-vehicle collision earlier this month in Lower Merion.

Meredith Williams-Earle was arrested Thursday in connection with the accident that resulted in the death of Winston Staats, 72, of Conshohocken.

“There are so many people who think they just had a little bit of alcohol, a little bit of prescription drugs,” said Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman. “The reality is that the substances we ingest have a significant impact on our ability to operate a motor vehicle safely.”

“(Williams-Earle) may not have thought she was too impaired to drive safely, many do not, but the reality is that drugs and alcohol do impact us, impact our ability to drive safely and they put other peoples’ lives at risk,” said Ferman. “That day she did not just put other people’s lives at risk, she took the life of an innocent man because she made bad choices if the charges against her are proven to be true.”

Williams-Earle, 30, of the 700 block of Harriton Road, Bryn Mawr, was released on $100,000 unsecured bail following her arraignment before District Judge Henry J. Schireson on charges of homicide by motor vehicle-driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, homicide by motor vehicle, driving under the influence and other offenses. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 17.

Williams-Earle, a high school Latin teacher in Delaware County and the married mother of two young children, faces a mandatory three-year prison sentence if convicted on the homicide by motor vehicle-DUI charge.

The accident occurred at Spring Mill Road and Morris Avenue at about 10:30 a.m. Aug. 6.

Williams-Earle, driving a red 2010 Toyota Prius with her 2-year-old son strapped to a car seat in the back seat, blew through a stop sign at a high rate of speed, crashing into the driver’s side of a Valley Forge Flowers delivery van that Staats was driving, according to the criminal complaint.

The impact of the collision flipped over the van, causing Staats to be partially ejected through the driver’s side window, with the van then rolling on top of Staats, according to the complaint.

Staats, a U.S. Marine veteran who worked for the U.S. Postal Service until his retirement before taking a job with Valley Forge Flowers, was pronounced dead at the scene from multiple injuries he suffered in the accident.

Williams-Earle and her son, Timothy, were taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries, the complaint said. Timothy suffered from bruises and a cut near his left eye, according to the complaint.

Authorities later determined that the car seat that the child was using was improperly installed in the vehicle, the complaint said.

While at the scene, Williams-Earle allegedly told police that she was driving on Morris Avenue toward Spring Mill Road when her son asked for some crackers. She said she turned around to give him the crackers and remembered nothing else of the accident, the complaint said.

Officers at the scene said Williams-Earle smelled strongly of alcohol and that they also found a blue plastic cup smelling of alcohol on the floor by the front passenger side.

Later at the hospital, Williams-Earle reportedly told authorities that she had taken Ativan, a drug normally prescribed for anti-anxiety, the night before the accident, and had felt “dizzy” on waking up that morning. When a friend told her that alcohol normally reverses the effect of the Ativan, Williams-Earle allegedly told police, she drank some champagne prior to leaving the house with her son, according to the complaint.

A blood test revealed that Williams-Earle had a blood-alcohol level of 0.098 percent, which is beyond the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

A forensic pathologist offered an opinion that the alcohol impaired Williams-Earle’s ability to drive safely and that the presence of Ativan in her system further impaired that ability, according to the complaint.